​I often get messages from people who are new to the religion or just finding their way inside, and they write to say how frustrated they are by the process. In many places, there's no visible Ocha community, and no easy way to find someone honest and knowledgeable who can work with them. People sometimes go to a botánica and hope the people working there are involved in the religion. That's not always the case. A botánica is just a store that sells religious supplies, and anyone can own one. You can buy beaded necklaces there in the colors of the Orichas, but until they're consecrated properly through a ceremony, they're nothing but beaded necklaces. Some botánica owners are Lucumi practitioners and others are not. Some are honest and helpful, some are not. It's not a foolproof method. We don't have churches per se, and we don't have regular services held on a certain day of the week in a particular place. We don't have pastors or ministers who keep regular hours in a church office, who list their names in the phone book. How do you find an olorisha or babalawo when you need one? Very often, it's a hit and miss process. Through friends, online communities, through university classes dealing with Afro-Caribbean cultures, through community centers where African style drumming or dancing takes place, sometimes you can meet someone who will invite you to an Ocha event of some kind. But, in many cases, it's a matter of luck. If you're meant to be in the religion, and if you're patient and persistent, sooner or later you'll find your way inside.

Why isn't it easier? ​

There are socio-cultural and historical reasons why the Lucumi religion isn't more visible in the modern sense of the word. Most of us live in a world where we expect to be able to find information within minutes. We look on the internet to find an address with a map. We search directories for names and phone numbers. When we have questions, we expect to find an answer. The Lucumi religion doesn't fit into that paradigm very well. Ours is a community-based religion, formed around lineages and ancestors. In Cuba, even today, the majority of Olorishas and Babalawos grew up in families where the religion was practiced by other family members or neighbors. Almost everyone knew where to go to get a consulta (reading), where there were drumming events, where Olorishas and Babalawos lived. People who needed something could drop in to a neighbor's house, or go on the referral of a friend or family members, and deal with someone who was well known in the community. There was no need to advertise services. At various times in Cuba's past, people who practiced the religion were persecuted, or at least discouraged from practicing openly. This created a certain amount of secrecy, which helped the religion survive in times of oppression. But, in many cases, it was an open secret, meaning that people in a community knew who practiced the religion, even though they didn't talk about it to strangers.

Also contributing to the insider vs. outsider mentality is the fact that the Lucumi religion is one that functions in large part via initiations. Aleyos, or "outsiders," don't have access to the "secrets" of the religion, because there's no reason for them to know. What would they do with the information if they had it? Without the aché that comes from initiation, the information is useless. To know just for the sake of curiosity is pointless. Olorishas are careful to not give too much information to strangers, because the folk wisdom of our proverbs continually warn us not to give away too freely what we know. We can never be sure how other people will use the knowledge they get from us and, if they have bad intentions, we can do harm by sharing what we know with them. There's a sense that the religion is meant to be shared by those who have "made Ocha," or who have been crowned in the religion. Aleyos can participate in certain kinds of activities, and can also establish a relationship with a godparent, going for consultas or looking for remedies to specific problems. But to participate in a kariocha ceremony (full initiation), only those who have been through the ceremony themselves can take part. If you haven't experienced it, you aren't allowed to know what happens or how the ceremony is done. These customs create another layer of secrecy around around the religion for those who want to know more, but can't find any doors open to them.

​As the religion moved out of local communities and spread throughout the diaspora, it became harder to identify people who practiced the religion. In areas with a large Cuban-American population like New York and Miami, it's slightly easier to find someone who knows someone in the religion, simply because there are more Olorishas in those places. But for people who live in other areas of the country, Olorishas may work in isolation from each other and not even know that other Olorishas live in their town. Now that travel is easier and we have more technology at our fingertips, some Lucumi practitioners stay in touch with their religious "home" (ilé) and godparents via internet and phone, and make yearly visits to see them. People belonging to a particular Lucumi community may not always live in the same place.

Adding to the confusion, there are various ways of worshipping the Orichas, and practitioners from different traditions don't always agree on how things are done. Whether the person made Ocha in Cuba or Ifa in Africa, whether they identify as traditional African or as a New World variation, there will be differences in their ways of thinking. Brazil, Haiti, Jamaica and other Caribbean-basin countries also have their practices, which sometimes resemble and sometimes differ radically from the way Lucumi practitioners do things. Some people incorporate Spiritism into their practices, others don't. Even among those who identify as Lucumí, there will be disagreements and differences about how things are done in one rama (lineage) versus another. There's common ground, but also a lot of gray areas that confuse people who want to understand what the religion is all about. Most people will ultimately fall back on the line, "This is what I learned from my godparent, so this is how I do things." And, when you ask a question, many will tell you: "Ask your godparent." If you don't have a godparent, you don't know where to begin.

​This is the reality of the situation today, and there's not much we can do to change it. Any attempt to create a directory or catalogue of services is full of problems. Who can check to be sure that the Olorisha or Babalawo is really who he says he is? How do we know he was really initiated? How do we know he's honest? If we don't know the person, how can we vouch for him? Some Olorishas refuse to make recommendations to people they don't know, worried that if things go wrong, they'll be blamed. The element of trust is lacking, and we know that there are charlatans out there. We don't want to hand people over to someone who'll abuse them. At the same time, if we don't know the person who is asking for help, we have no way of knowing if the person is sincere or not. The person may be mentally ill or dangerous, and if we send him to see someone we know, we might cause problems for our religious brethren.

The best advice for newcomers is to be patient. Keep your eyes and ears open. Send your intentions out into the universe. Talk to people you meet about your interest in the religion. When you least expect it, you might find someone who can help you. Use care if you're going online to search for a spiritual guide. You might meet helpful and kind people on line, or you might meet a hustler. If you live in a place with a lot of cultural events, attend those that have to do with African and Afro-Caribbean music and art. If you can take a class on African or Afro-Caribbean culture, again, you might meet someone. The point is you never know where you'll find the person who can help you. It might take years, and you have to be patient. If you're able to go to Cuba, you can speed up the process because it's easy to find people there in the religion. However, unless you know the culture well, speak Spanish, and have connections to people you trust, you can also open yourself up to fraud. There's no easy path if you don't know where the first step is, but you need to keep looking without letting yourself become frustrated in the process.

Take Your Time

Finally, don't be in a hurry to find a godparent, or to have your head marked to know who is the owner of your head. If you're new to the religion, you don't need to be in a hurry. If you meet people in the religion, get to know them as people. See how they interact with others. See if you "click" with them. Most people don't need to know who owns their head until they're ready to make Ocha. Until then, you should develop a spiritual relationship with all the Orichas and with your egun (spirits of your ancestors). You can pray to them, using your own words, and ask them for guidance. You can read general information about the religion and educate yourself a bit about the Lucumi worldview. Don't expect someone to take you by the hand and teach you. Be aware that if you live in a place where there's not a large Lucumi community, you may end up on your own. This isn't ideal for many reasons, primarily because ours is a religion where you learn by doing, by experiencing, by taking part in ceremonies, and if you aren't engaged in those kinds of activities, your knowledge of the religion will remain limited. You can only learn so much from books. If you go away to make Ocha, to Cuba or to some other part of the United States, how often will you be able to go back to interact with the people there? How will you stay in touch with your godparent? Will you be unhappy without a community nearby? These are things to think about. No one can thrive in total isolation, but some people need more contact with others. Know yourself, and what you need, and then set realistic expectations about how you can have that.Once you receive your elekes (beaded necklaces), warriors, or an adimú oricha, you have a godparent. The person who gave you those things has some responsibility to guide you and help you, at least as far as that particular ceremony is concerned. The godparent needs to tell you how to take care of your elekes or warriors, how to attend to them, and explain what your responsibilities are. If you have a problem and need a consulta, the godparent should be willing to do one for you or recommend someone to you. If you need to do ebo to solve your problem, your godparent should help you with that. However, you can't realistically expect the godparent to be available to you around the clock for as many hours as you want to take up with your problems. If you constantly call or drop by with questions and problems, the godparent might get annoyed. Most godparents work full time jobs, have families to take care of, and they have other obligations to other godchildren. And, sometimes they just need to disconnect and have time to themselves. Anyone who does consultas and helps people solve problems needs time to recover from the emotional, mental and physical exhaustion that work causes. Very often, godchildren become impatient because the godparent isn't available or willing to talk about the religion all the time. Or, the godparent puts off answering their questions, or says "that's something you don't need to know now." Godparents don't always give the answer the godchild wants or expects. It's important to give the relationship time to develop and mellow, so that learning takes place gradually and slowly, over a period of time. As trust develops, so will communication. Before you make Ocha, if that turns out to be your path, make sure you know the person you've chosen as godparent very well. Once you've been crowned, the relationship between godparent and godchild is for life. There's nothing sadder than a new initiate who discovers, too late, that they don't get along well with the godparent. Some people do argue and separate, but that usually causes terrible difficulties for the godchild. You can avoid trauma by taking time to get to know the godparent well, and your patience will pay off.Have realistic expectations, learn to deal with frustration and setbacks, be persistent and have faith. Although you can't always see what's around the next curve in the road, you can ask the Orishas to guide you in the direction you need to go. If you are meant to make Ocha, you will. And if Ocha is not for you, you'll know to take another path before you commit your time, money and energy to a religion that doesn't fit your needs.